Of Ears, War And Fred Weasley
by HPFanFictionFan
Summary: DH SPOILERS. 'It never occurred to me that one of us could get hurt.' Fred reluctantly opens up to Alicia Spinnet about his feelings after the night of the 'Ear-Incident'


**A/N:** This can be seen as an outtake of my longer Story "What Was And What Will Be". It this is focused on the relationship between Alicia Spinnet and Fred Weasley. Takes place at the beginning of DH, therefore it holds spoilers. But every Harry Potter fan should have read DH by now ...**  
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Please enjoy! And leaving a review for me would be great!

**XXX**

**July 27th, 1997**

It was very early on a bright summer morning when Alicia was woken up by the sound of somebody hammering on the door of her apartment.

"Oi! Spinnet! You home?"

Warily Alicia sat up, rubbing her tired eyes. She still felt as though she was half-asleep, but certainly alert enough to recognise the voice that was penetrating her fogged brain. It belonged to Fred Weasley.

Fred – of all people. What in Merlin's name could _he_ want from her? But then a sudden thought came to her mind, accompined by a very queasy feeling in her stomach, making her suddenly sit bolt upright – maybe something had happened to George?

Now wide awake Alicia pushed her covers aside and jumped out of bed. "Just a second!" she shouted back at Fred. In less than five minutes she had got up and was fully dressed. She opened the door. "What is it?"

Fred strode inside past her without even looking at her. "I need you to come with me. Is your Floo connection activated, yet?"

Shaking her head Alicia asked, "Come with you? Where to?"

"The Burrow," said Fred absently.

It was only now that Alicia noticed that Fred didn't look too good. He was paler than usually and gave the impression that he hadn't slept all night. Also, he looked worried. It was rather unnerving to see him like this, because normally nothing could unsettle Fred Weasley. Unless something had happened to –

"Is something wrong with George?" asked Alicia, feeling her stomach contract with fear.

"Yes," said Fred, who was standing by the fireplace, tapping his foot impatiently. "But he's not in mortal danger or anything. Not anymore at least."

"What do you mean – not _anymore_?"

"Come on, let's go," said Fred instead of an answer, pointing his wand at the hearth to light up a fire.

"What happened?"

"I will tell you when we're there. Where's your Floo Powder?"

"Fred!" shouted Alicia, who couldn't bear it any longer. "FRED! WILL YOU _PLEASE_ TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED FOR MERLIN'S SAKE!"

It seemed as though she had finally gotten through to him. He turned around to meet her eyes and started to explain, "Yesterday we were –" he hesitated but went on quickly when he saw Alicia's face, "– well, George got hit by the _Sectumsempra_ Curse last night. It – it cut off his ear. He'll live, but he lost a lot of blood."

"Who did it?"

"Snape."

"Snape?" asked Alicia. It was a horrifying thought – Professor Snape had been their teacher for seven years! Alicia could feel the blood draining from her face – she was sure she was looking as pale as Fred was by now.

"He _is_ a Death Eater, after all, isn't he? Last night they were after Harry," said Fred. "And when I get my hands on Snape I will personally _kill_ him!"

"How's George?" asked Alicia, handing her box of Floo powder to Fred, who grabbed a hand full of it, threw it into the fire.

"You'll see – THE BURROW!" he shouted and walked into the green flames. A second later he was gone and Alicia hurried to follow him.

It was still very early in the morning and nobody was awake yet in the Weasley household. Alicia followed Fred upstairs to his and George's old room. Before he opened the door, he turned around to Alicia. "Be prepared – it doesn't look pretty."

When they entered the room, Alicia felt very relieved to find George lying asleep in one of the old bunk beds, snoring lightly. There was no sign of any injury visible from where she stood.

"Which ear was it?" she whispered at Fred.

"Left."

"Why didn't you come and get me right away?"

Fred shrugged, looking guilty. "Haven't thought about it, until he asked for you earlier."

And with these words he closed the door behind him and Alicia was alone with George. Carefully she crossed the room, not wanting to make any noise and wake him up in the process. But as soon as she sat down on one of the chairs by the window George began to stir and a moment later he rolled onto his back, rubbing his eyes.

"Licia?" asked George, sitting up. "What are you doing here?"

Alicia stood up and walked over to the bed to sit on the edge. "Fred came over. He told me what happened."

Rolling his eyes George let himself fall backwards onto his pillow again. He ran a hand over his face and yawned. "I never thought he would," he mumbled. "I told him, I'd like to see you, but he wasn't so happy about that."

"He didn't look happy before he left me here with you a moment ago," agreed Alicia.

"He's jealous," said George, a hint of a grin appearing on his face. "But he was being worse than Mum after what happened. – He _did_ tell you what happened, didn't he?" Alicia nodded and George continued, "I got so annoyed by him fussing over me that I told him to get lost. And then later I mentioned I'd like _you_ to be here. It's no wonder he is pissed off."

"No, it certainly isn't," Alicia agreed.

George nodded. "I think I'll have to make it up to him, later." He yawned again. "But I need to get some more sleep first." He reached for Alicia's arm and pulled her down until she was lying next to him. But Alicia shook her head.

"Can I see it?" Sooner or later she would _have_ to see it anyway. Better get this over with, even if she was scared.

"What?"

"The wound."

George looked sceptical. "Now? I don't know – it probably looks rather ugly. You'll see it soon enough, anyway."

"George –"

He sighed. "Alright, but you've been warned." He turned over so Alicia could see the left side of his head. Gently she pushed back a strand of red hair – until she saw it. It was not nearly as bad as she had imagined it. Somebody had already taken care of the wound – and had done a good job of it.

"So?" asked George after a while. "Do you still love me?"

"More than ever," said Alicia, placing a light kiss on his temple. "It'll take a lot more to make me not love you anymore. Does it hurt?"

George considered the question for a moment then pulled a face as if he was in pain. "Yes."

Alicia knew that he was pretending, but she ruffled his hair affectionately, careful to not come in touch with the part of his head where the missing ear should have been. "My poor Georgie," she cooed. "Poor poor love. Is there anything I can do for you?"

George was having difficulties in suppressing a grin when he answered in a dramatic tone. "No, I don't think so. Unless – well, it _might_ help if you stay in bed with me for a while."

"Hang on, I will get undressed first," said Alicia, getting up and starting to get rid of her clothes.

"Er, I don't think I'm up for _that_ right now," began George but Alicia bent down to place her index finger across his lips.

"Shut up, silly," she said. "I'm not thinking about sex. I just want to get a little more comfortable. Can't sleep in my jeans."

She undressed to her underwear and crawled into the tiny bunk bed beside him. It was tight, together in the bed but neither of them was up for an enlargement charm. George fell asleep again almost immediately, and so did Alicia after a while. When she woke up, the sun was shining in through the window, telling her it must be almost noon. It was very hot in the room, and even hotter under the blankets.

George was still asleep, despite the fact that the house was noisy now as everybody else was up. Alicia smiled; he could sleep through anything – she knew that from experience. And being hit by a curse like _Sectumsempra_ was probably a tiring enough experience.

Alicia got out of bed, carefully as to not wake him. He stirred when she got up and draped the covers on him again but didn't wake.

Quietly Alicia slipped her clothes back on to go and find Fred. For some reason she felt guilty about him. It bothered her that he felt like she had come between him and George. He let her know that whenever he could. She wasn't even sure whether he was doing it on purpose or not. Fred was an egocentric kind of person – it wasn't really his fault. It was just the way he was.

Alicia wanted to set things straight with him. On her way down to the kitchen Alicia met Molly Weasley, who was making her way upstairs carrying a tray of food. She smiled when she saw her son's girlfriend.

"Morning Alicia," she said. "Fred told me he went to get you. It was very nice of you to come."

"Of course I came, Molly," said Alicia. "Nothing could have kept me from seeing how he is."

"Still asleep?"

Alicia nodded.

"Okay, then I'll just leave his breakfast on the bedside table. He must be hungry. By the way, if you're hungry just go into the kitchen. You're free to help yourself to anything you like."

"Thank you, Molly", said Alicia and made her way downstairs to find Fred.

He found her first. "Spinnet," said his voice behind her when she had reached the ground floor, making her turn around. He was descending the stairs after her, with his hands stuffed into his pockets and a concerned expression on his face. "How is he?"

Alicia sighed. "Hard to say. He's still asleep."

"Did you see _it_?"

Alicia nodded. "It's not that bad, is it?"

"What do you mean, _not that bad_? It's bad enough, I think," said Fred indignantly.

Alicia blushed. "Well, I meant that I don't really mind."

"Well, _I _do," said Fred, avoiding her eyes. Alicia wasn't sure but for a moment she thought, she had seen tears gleaming in his eyes. But he had turned away so quickly she wasn't sure. "Anyway, I'll see you later." He made to leave.

Alicia watched him with knot forming in her stomach. "Fred?"

"Yes?" He was halfway through the door to the living-room.

"Are you angry with me?"

"No."

It sounded like a lie. Alicia was sure that there was more behind it, and the fact that Fred was still standing in the doorway, unmoving, seemed to confirm her suspicion. He needed to talk about it as much as she did, but obviously didn't how or where to start.

"You know, I'm not trying to take him away from you," Alicia said slowly.

"Well, you sort of do, don't you?" he said, suddenly furious and turned around to face her. She could see that there really were tears in his eyes.

"I don't – it's his decision who he wants to spend his time with."

Fred opened his mouth to retort, but at the moment Harry, Ron and Hermione's voices became audible in the kitchen. A moment later the three of them came bustling into the hall, stopping abruptly at the sight of Alicia and Fred.

"What?" said Fred, glaring at his younger brother and his friends.

Ron, looking intimidated by Fred's rude tone, shrugged. "Nothing," he mumbled. He turned to his friends. "Let's go –"

They went up the stairs. Fred glared after them for a moment then turned on his heels and went towards the kitchen door that Harry had left ajar. "I need to get out of here."

"Fred!" called Alicia, following him reluctantly. "Don't go. Talk to me."

"I don't think I want to."

"Please."

He stopped to face her. "Okay, but can we go and talk somewhere else? Without everybody and their house-elf listening?"

"We can go anywhere you like but we really need to sort this out."

"There's a fallen tree down by the lake, do you know it?"

"Yes," said Alicia. She was pretty sure she knew the place he meant. Alicia had been there with George just a couple of days ago. He had told her that it used to be his and Fred's favourite place when they were younger. She could see why. The lake was beautiful, with water clear and cool so they could go swimming before picnicking in the woods. "I know where you mean. Shall we meet there?"

Fred nodded and with three long strides he crossed the kitchen towards the back door that lead into the garden where he Disapparated. Alicia followed with a deep sigh.

When she arrived she found Fred sitting on the log, looking agitated. It was obvious that he didn't really want to have this conversation but Alicia needed him to see her point. She could understand that he would feel left out, when after getting hurt George preferred Alicia's presence, but in Alicia's eyes that was normal. Of course she knew that the twins had always been close – a lot closer than boys, even brothers, would normally be at their age. But the older they got the more it seemed normal to Alicia that they forming a close relationship with somebody else than just each other.

"You know – this used to be our favourite place when we were kids," Fred broke the silence that had settled between them, looking over the lake that lay calm and beautiful before them.

"You did everything together, didn't you?" said Alicia sympathetically.

"Yes." He turned to look at Alicia. "You know, I should probably apologize to you. For not always being very nice, because I know haven't been. After all, I will probably have to put up with you for the next sixty or so years. Thing is, I don't want to apologize."

Alicia laughed. "I have never heard Fred Weasley say_ 'I'm sorry'_, anyway."

"Don't get the wrong idea – _if_ I should apologize I'm only doing it for George's sake."

"Of course you are."

"Honestly, I mean it, Spinnet. I still don't like you," he said but the twinkling of his eyes told a different story. All too soon, though, he became serious again. "You wouldn't understand, but last night, when I found out what happened to George, it was as though –" He interrupted himself and Alicia waited for him to elaborate.

"What?" she asked finally in a gentle tone when Fred remained silent.

"Well, it never occurred to me that one of us could get hurt. I mean, now that it happened we can make jokes about it and laugh and move on – but it doesn't change the fact that something is different now."

"What's different?"

"I suddenly feel scared," admitted Fred. "I was scared before, of course, but now I'm scared out of my mind. What if, next time, he doesn't come back at all? I don't think I could live with that."

"You know he said the same about you," said Alicia.

He glanced at her. "He did?"

Alicia climbed onto the tree next to him. She kept the distance between them big enough, though. "He told me that his worst fear would be losing either of us."

Rolling his eyes Fred snorted. "Either of us – of course. I should've known."

"Yes, but what did you expect?" Alicia asked. "Did you really think it would be just the two of you – for the rest of your lives?"

Fred shrugged. "No. But I didn't expect one of us to fall in love this early in our lives, either. You see, I've been out with many girls – but it never was anything serious. I guess I just expected George to be the same."

"But what if it had been you, falling in love? Would you want to be forced to choose between your girlfriend and your brother?"

"I'm not asking him to choose," said Fred in a strained voice. "I'm doing my best to keep out of your way – but he doesn't even acknowledge it. Neither do you."

"Oh yeah, we do, especially George. You just don't see it. You don't _want_ to see it."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Fred angrily.

"It means that you have a tendency to count only those times, when George doesn't have time for you – and seem to forget that more often than you think, it's _you_ being busy or out, when _he_ wishes nothing more than for _you_ to be around."

Fred stared at her disbelievingly. "Is that so?"

"Yeah, well I wouldn't make this up."

With a shrug Fred jumped down from the tree trunk. "Maybe you're right," he said, sounding a little less angry by now. While brushing some dirt off his backside he said, "So I guess, I _do_ apologise to you, then. Okay?"

"Apology accepted," said Alicia laughing. "Now let's get back to The Burrow. I'm hungry. I haven't eaten anything today."

"Before we go you will have to promise me something."

"What?"

"You have to promise me that you will take good care of my little brother."

Alicia sniggered. "_Little_ brother?"

Nodding at her with a grin Fred confirmed, "Yeah – I was born first. I'm exactly seven and a half minutes older than him."

"And he really let's you call him that?"

"No, but what can he do when he isn't around?"

"Of course you're right there," said Alicia. "As to your promise; I swear that I will always take care of him because I love him. Now come on, I think your mother will have lunch ready by now." She laughed when at Fred's revolted expression when she had told him that she _loved_ George, and pulled out her wand, ready to for Apparition.

"Hang on, Spinnet. There's one more thing you have to promise me."

"What's that?"

"Promise you won't tell anybody about our little conversation here. Because if you do, I'm afraid I'll have to kill you. I mean, if anybody knew about this it would totally ruin my reputation."

"Okay," said Alicia with smile. "I promise that, too, then."

**XXX**


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